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Last season's finalists relocated from Everett, Wash.

The Rochester Knighthawks celebrate their 11-10 National Lacrosse League championship victory over the Washington Stealth at the Langley Events Centre. May's league final drew a sellout crowd of 5,500. The National Lacrosse League will have a team in Langley next season.

Photograph by: Les Bazso, Png
, The Province

VANCOUVER — If you were a young lacrosse fan back when the National Lacrosse League last had a franchise in the Vancouver area, the Van Raven bobblehead was a must have.

“Oh yeah,” says Coquitlam native Tyler Garrison, who was 12 and whose family held season tickets at then-GM Place when the cash-strapped Vancouver Ravens folded in 2004 after three seasons in the North American pro league.

“There’s still a bunch of stuff (memorabilia) kicking around here, but yeah I swear every one of my friends has one of those (Ravens’ mascot bobbleheads.)”

Garrison already has a head start on Vancouver Stealth merchandise, having recently completed his rookie season with the franchise, which announced on Thursday that it was moving from Everett, Wash., to the 5,200-seat Langley Events Centre for the 2014 season.

“I think it’s going to be great, going to be a huge opportunity for the sport to grow,” said Garrison. “I’m really excited for it. Any time you can play in front of a hometown crowd, you’ve got to like it.”

The relocation comes seven weeks after the Stealth had to play the NLL championship game at the LEC because the Comcast Arena in Everett was already booked.

The Stealth lost that game, 11-10, to the Rochester Knighthawks, but Garrison said the atmosphere in the sold-out building was terrific.

“The crowd was crazy. Obviously, it’s a smaller venue (than others in the NLL), but it sounded and looked like one of the big arenas.”

The Stealth, owned by California-based businesswoman Denise Watkins, initially began play in San Jose in 2000, but spent the last four seasons in Everett, where attendance last season in the 8,500-seat arena averaged just 4,000.

“We had really good success on the floor, making three championship final appearances, winning one of them, but we didn’t at the end of the day see growth in terms of the fan base and sponsorship base that we had hoped,” GM Doug Locker said in an interview.

He said Langley and LEC “made a ton of sense … we’re comfortable with the personnel and the building and we struck a real good deal.

“Langley is kind of the ground zero for lacrosse in the Metro area.”

Locker said it was an easy decision to call the team the Vancouver Stealth.

“We really wanted to encompass the greater Metro area, so Vancouver made the most sense for us. But we will give props to the Langley Events Centre for hosting us. We look at the (LEC) staff as a partner with us in this thing. That was an important consideration. We didn’t want to be in a situation where we were strictly a tenant. We wanted to be where we’d be a partner and they’re going to work with us.”

The LEC will easily be the smallest venue in the nine-team NLL, which has three other Canadian franchises — Toronto (Air Canada Centre), Calgary (Saddledome) and Edmonton (Rexall Place). Average attendance the last season was 9,662.

Locker said he believes the Stealth can be financially viable in Langley, in large part because of the potential for increased sponsorship and national television deals. Ticket prices will also be higher than in Everett — an average of about $25 — and he believes the club can sell out the building on a regular basis.

“I think maybe some of (the NLL teams) are in buildings that are really too big to begin with.”

NLL salaries range from $9,000 for rookies to a maximum of $34,000 for franchise players for a 16-game season that runs January through April.

Locker said Watkins is open to adding local ownership investment, but “it’s not something we need to. She’s very committed to the organization. She’s invested a lot of dollars into the league and is very passionate about it.”

The Stealth went 9-7 last season with a roster that included 13 players from B.C., including NLL goal scoring leader Rhys Duch. The Victoria native had 45 goals. Lewis Ratcliff, Athan Iannucci and Cliff Smith are three other scoring stars.

Garrison played all 16 games as a transition player, contributing four goals and 10 assists.

“I think we’re built to last,” said Garrison, who is playing his final year of junior this summer with Coquitlam. “We’ve got a lot of real exciting players up front. We’re not an old team by any means.

“We’re fast. We’re big. We’re strong. We’re probably one of the more exciting teams to watch.”

He also said losing the championship final by a single goal has “definitely made me hungrier for next year.

“The hope is that the (LEC) turns into one of those places that teams don’t want to go to. It’s going to be awesome. It’s going to be rockin’ in there every night.”

The Rochester Knighthawks celebrate their 11-10 National Lacrosse League championship victory over the Washington Stealth at the Langley Events Centre. May's league final drew a sellout crowd of 5,500. The National Lacrosse League will have a team in Langley next season.

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